Joshua Trees are a species under threat. Wildfires sparked from careless activity spread further and faster in the desert than in years past due to invasive species, and climate change brings hotter and drier seasons. This can spell trouble for a species that can take decades for their seedlings to grow to the full-size trees that we see in higher elevations here in the Morongo Basin.
Recent fires in the Mojave National Preserve have devastated thousands of acres of Joshua Tree forest. The Cima Dome fire in 2020 scorched over 70 square miles of Joshua Trees and other native plants. The National Park Service estimates over a million trees were burned in that fire alone.
The preserve is taking steps to help reestablish the Joshua Tree forest, and every weekend in October they held volunteer reforestation events, planting and tending to hundreds of tiny trees to jumpstart their growth during a forecast extra-wet winter.
I live a few miles from the National Park and am lucky enough to have Joshua Trees on my property – alongside a multitude of “volunteers” as my Mom would call them – baby Joshua Trees that have sprouted up on their own from seed.
I contacted Joshua Tree National Park Ranger Sasha Travalgio to see if there was a way for the NPS to accept donations of these trees for reforestation efforts. She informed me that the National Park Service can’t accept donations of any plant life as it’s difficult to verify the correct species of plant – especially in the case of Joshua Trees which actually have two different subspecies here in the Mojave desert.
The Joshua Tree here in the Morongo Basin and throughout the National Park is the Yucca brevifolia brevifolia – or the Western Joshua Tree. This larger variety has long leaves and it only branches out after creating their large distinct waxy white flowers.
However, the Joshua Trees in the Cima Dome and Mojave National Preserve are a smaller and less-dense variety called the yucca brevifolia jeagerina, or Eastern Joshua Tree. These can branch without flowering and tend to stay smaller than their Western counterpart.
Before the 1.6 million acre Mojave National Preserve was established in 1994 – there were no protected populations of the Eastern Joshua Tree. Reforestation efforts are being made by the NPS and other organizations like the Mojave Desert Land Trust – but making sure the species and seeds used are correct for the area’s native ecosystem is paramount to conserving the natural order of things.
So instead of donating any seedlings I find, I give them a little extra water and space to grow, alongside planting as many native plants as possible on my small spot of land. I like imagining them growing tall long after I’m gone, providing shade and beauty to a part of the earth that I was lucky enough to call my home for a brief moment in time.
Links:
Cima Dome Restoration Efforts
Mojave Desert Land Trust Seed Bank
Joshua Tree information at the National Park Service
